Metro South Chamber floats idea of regional water authority

The proposal comes as Brockton officials consider buying the water desalination plant in Dighton.

Staff Reporter

BROCKTON – Fifteen years after the last attempt to create a regional water authority failed, another effort is emerging out of the Metro South Chamber of Commerce.

The chamber is in the early stages of developing a proposal to regionalize wastewater and drinking water systems in the Brockton area. It has contracted with academic researchers to look into the creation of what it is calling the Metro South Water Reclamation Authority.

“This chamber has provided leadership over the last 30 years in the area of water,” chamber president and CEO Chris Cooney said. “This is an example where we can spend some resources that will be beneficial to all communities in the region.”

The idea of the authority would be to achieve greater water-rate stability, make rates more consistent among communities, and improve cost management, infrastructure investment and water quality.

It could be established similar to the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority, a regional public entity that provides water and sewer services to 61 communities, including Boston.

Brockton, with its wastewater treatment plant and connection to the Aquaria desalination plant, would be at the center of any proposal, Cooney said, but would not be alone.

“We believe there’s interest from every contiguous town,” he said.

Researchers with University of Massachusetts’ Donahue Institute are in the first part of a two-phase, $35,000 contract with the chamber, said Daniel Hodge, a director with the institute. Analysts are examining successful regional water systems and speaking with local, state and federal stakeholders, including the Old Colony Planning Council, area towns and environmental officials.

Hodge is expected to present preliminary results of the study to the chamber next month and prepare a final report by the end of the year.

The proposal comes as Brockton officials are considering whether to buy the desalination plant in Dighton for $88 million.

Mayor Bill Carpenter has reached a tentative agreement with plant owner Aquaria that requires approval by the Water Commission, City Council and state legislature.

The city would save at least $1 million annually by ridding itself of a 20-year contract with Aquaria and replacing it with bond financing, officials say. Under the contract, this year the city will pay $6.3 million for access to water it does not use.

Brian Creedon, the city’s water systems manager, said a regional water authority could spread out the costs associated with the plant’s operations if the plant was purchased by Brockton or the authority itself. It could also mean savings on infrastructure investments, Creedon said.

Cooney said the chamber’s regionalization study is not connected to the pending Aquaria deal and that its research efforts began before the negotiations were disclosed.

“We were never involved in any dialogue about the sale,” Cooney said. “It is a regional asset that we asked the institute to factor into the discussion.”

Pine duBois, executive director at the Jones River Watershed Association, has been involved in area water issues for many years. She said a regional authority could be beneficial, but that it depends on how much public input there is on environmental and other concerns.

“It could be better than the lack of cohesive management that we’re experiencing today,” duBois said.

This is not the first attempt at creating a water authority for the region.

In the late 1990s, the Southeast Water Supply District was proposed as a way to better manage water in the region. The idea died shortly thereafter, felled by a lack of interest.

“We didn’t really pull together the critical mass of communities that we needed to lobby for the passage of the bill,” Sen. Marc Pacheco, D-Taunton, said. “I just don’t think the enthusiasm was there for it.”

That authority would have allowed the Dighton water plant to move ahead under a public entity rather than a private company, said Jeff Hanson, an engineer who helped mastermind the desalination project more than 20 years ago.

“It was a means of building the desalination plant without putting a heavy burden on anybody,” Hanson said. “Instead it ended up on Brockton’s shoulders.”